English borrowed about 30% of its vocabulary from French, primarily after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Language shapes thought — the Pirahã's lack of color words means they perceive fewer color distinctions.

The most spoken language is Mandarin Chinese — with over 1.1 billion native speakers.

Body language accounts for 55% of communication, tone for 38%, and words for only 7% — according to Mehrabian's model (though this is often oversimplified).

There is no word in English for the back of the knee.

Jazz improvisation activates the prefrontal cortex's language areas — musicians effectively 'speak' through their instruments.

Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible in speech but written in completely different scripts.

Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words still used in English today, including 'bedroom,' 'lonely,' and 'generous.'

Creole languages form when children of pidgin speakers create a fully structured native language.